Who Will Take the Baton Next: One Boomer Ponders Future

By IAN FEIN

It took V. Jaime Hamlin almost an hour to get to Edgartown from her
Vineyard Haven home on Wednesday.

And the traffic congestion on this rainy day after the Fourth of
July highlighted one of her primary concerns about the fate of the
Island. She worries that the Vineyard is becoming too popular for its
own good.

The word on the street was no throwing candy. This year, citing
safety reasons, volunteers at the Fourth of July parade in Edgartown
would instead walk alongside the floats handing out candy. Despite the
new rule, children and their parents appeared unfazed on Tuesday
afternoon as they began lining up to celebrate the country's 230th
birthday.

Sunday's moped accident that claimed the life of a 41-year-old
New York city woman has reopened old wounds for Islanders who want to
see stronger safety standards for the two-wheeled vehicles, and others
who want them banned from the Vineyard altogether.

House of Representatives Passes Coast Guard Spending Bill,
Eliminating Governor's Veto for Offshore Wind Farms

Abandoning what could have been a fatal blow to the offshore wind
farm proposed in Nantucket Sound, the U.S. House of Representatives last
week approved a revised Coast Guard bill that eliminated veto power over
the Cape Wind project for the governor of Massachusetts.

The red bus is back, and so are the participants of Camp
Jabberwocky, the longtime summer camp on Martha's Vineyard for
youths and adults with cerebral palsy.

When the Vineyard Haven Band plays in Ocean Park, the musicians hope
no one arrives late and that nature does not call during the performance
- because once the trapdoor goes down in the bandstand, there is
no way in or out.

Art Buchwald, the writer whose hospice stay turned into a lease on
life, returned Saturday afternoon to his beloved Martha's
Vineyard.

Mr. Buchwald arrived at Martha's Vineyard Airport at 12:30
p.m. in a private plane that flew directly from Washington Dulles
International Airport. Family members then drove him to his home on Main
street in Vineyard Haven.

People love lighthouses. When you enter the word into Google's
search engine, 44,800,000 sites pop up. There are lighthouse magazines,
magnets and sweatshirts. The New England region even has its own fan
group dedicated to the structure - New England Lighthouse Lovers.
"Lighthouses are modern day castles," said Craig Dripps,
president of the East Chop Association. "They have a sense of
magic and history. They hold secrets."

A woman visitor driving a moped down a straight stretch of the
Edgartown-West Tisbury Road in West Tisbury on Sunday was killed after
she reportedly lost control of the two-wheeled vehicle and struck a
utility pole head-on.

Three Dissenting Commissioners Speak Out About Class Divide; Others
Agree, But Vote Yes on Edgartown Field Club

Despite bluntly expressed concerns about the changing character of
the Island and a widening economic divide among its residents, the
Martha's Vineyard Commission last week approved an upscale
members-only recreational facility proposed for Katama.